Chesapeake Battles Out-of-Control Marcellus Gas Well

(Corrects first name of state environmental spokeswoman in
third paragraph.)

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Chesapeake Energy Corp. is trying
to regain control of a natural-gas well in rural Pennsylvania
that erupted yesterday, spilling chemically treated water into a
creek and prompting evacuations of nearby residents.

A crew was in the process of fracturing a well near Leroy
Township when the incident occurred at about 11:45 p.m., said
Bob Barnes, a spokesman for the Bradford County Emergency
Management Agency. The well site is 150 miles (240 kilometers)
northwest of Philadelphia.

Chesapeake, the most active U.S. driller, said in an e-mailed statement the accident was caused by an equipment failure
and that “completion fluids” were spilled. The spill occurred
while the well was undergoing a process called hydraulic
fracturing, said Katy Gresh, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection. Also called fracking,
the method uses a mixture of water, sand and chemicals injected
under high pressure to fracture dense rock and release oil and
gas.

An undetermined amount of the fluid flowed from the well
site into a tributary of Towanda Creek, which feeds into the
Susquehanna River, Gresh said in a telephone interview.

Chesapeake has now contained the spill to the drill site,
Gresh said. She didn’t have specific information on which
chemicals were being used.

“The well is still not under control yet,” Gresh said.

Boots & Coots

Boots & Coots International Well Control, a division of
Halliburton Co. that specializes in taming out-of-control oil
and gas wells, has been mobilized to respond if necessary,
Chesapeake said in its statement.

No one was reported injured; seven families have been
evacuated from the area as a precaution, Chesapeake said.

State environmental regulators are taking samples from the
creek and plan to test private water wells in the area to
monitor for contamination, Gresh said.

Chesapeake and other gas producers have been trying to ease
public concerns about hydraulic fracturing. Environmentalists
have said that fracking, or the disposal of fracturing fluid,
can contaminate water supplies.

Industry groups say they only use tiny amounts of chemicals
and contamination is not a risk. The Groundwater Protection
Council, a coalition of state agencies, began a campaign last
week to disclose the chemicals used in each well.

Chesapeake, based in Oklahoma City, rose 1 cent to $32.22
at 5 p.m. in after-hours trading in New York.